1 Kings 3; 1 Kings 4; 1 Kings 5 NIV

1 Kings 3; 1 Kings 4; 1 Kings 5

1Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the LORD, and the wall around Jerusalem.2The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the LORD.3Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.4The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.5At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”6Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.7“Now, LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties.8Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number.9So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”10The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.11So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice,12I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.13Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings.14And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.”15Then Solomon awoke—and he realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he gave a feast for all his court.16Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.17One of them said, “Pardon me, my lord. This woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was there with me.18The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.19“During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him.20So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast.21The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne.”22The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.” But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so they argued before the king.23The king said, “This one says, ‘My son is alive and your son is dead,’ while that one says, ‘No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.’ ”24Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king.25He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”26The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!” But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”27Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.”28When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.

1So King Solomon ruled over all Israel.2And these were his chief officials: Azariah son of Zadok—the priest;3Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha—secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud—recorder;4Benaiah son of Jehoiada—commander in chief; Zadok and Abiathar—priests;5Azariah son of Nathan—in charge of the district governors; Zabud son of Nathan—a priest and adviser to the king;6Ahishar—palace administrator; Adoniram son of Abda—in charge of forced labor.7Solomon had twelve district governors over all Israel, who supplied provisions for the king and the royal household. Each one had to provide supplies for one month in the year.8These are their names: Ben-Hur—in the hill country of Ephraim;9Ben-Deker—in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh and Elon Bethhanan;10Ben-Hesed—in Arubboth (Sokoh and all the land of Hepher were his);11Ben-Abinadab—in Naphoth Dor (he was married to Taphath daughter of Solomon);12Baana son of Ahilud—in Taanach and Megiddo, and in all of Beth Shan next to Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth Shan to Abel Meholah across to Jokmeam;13Ben-Geber—in Ramoth Gilead (the settlements of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead were his, as well as the region of Argob in Bashan and its sixty large walled cities with bronze gate bars);14Ahinadab son of Iddo—in Mahanaim;15Ahimaaz—in Naphtali (he had married Basemath daughter of Solomon);16Baana son of Hushai—in Asher and in Aloth;17Jehoshaphat son of Paruah—in Issachar;18Shimei son of Ela—in Benjamin;19Geber son of Uri—in Gilead (the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and the country of Og king of Bashan). He was the only governor over the district.20The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy.21And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon’s subjects all his life.22Solomon’s daily provisions were thirty cors of the finest flour and sixty cors of meal,23ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of pasture-fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks and choice fowl.24For he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, and had peace on all sides.25During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, everyone under their own vine and under their own fig tree.26Solomon had four thousand stalls for chariot horses, and twelve thousand horses.27The district governors, each in his month, supplied provisions for King Solomon and all who came to the king’s table. They saw to it that nothing was lacking.28They also brought to the proper place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and the other horses.29God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.30Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.31He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Kalkol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations.32He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five.33He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish.34From all nations people came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.

1When Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David.2Solomon sent back this message to Hiram:3“You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the LORD his God until the LORD put his enemies under his feet.4But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster.5I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the LORD my God, as the LORD told my father David, when he said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’6“So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians.”7When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased and said, “Praise be to the LORD today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.”8So Hiram sent word to Solomon: “I have received the message you sent me and will do all you want in providing the cedar and juniper logs.9My men will haul them down from Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea, and I will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate them and you can take them away. And you are to grant my wish by providing food for my royal household.”10In this way Hiram kept Solomon supplied with all the cedar and juniper logs he wanted,11and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year.12The LORD gave Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.13King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel—thirty thousand men.14He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.15Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills,16as well as thirty-three hundred foremen who supervised the project and directed the workers.17At the king’s command they removed from the quarry large blocks of high-grade stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple.18The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and workers from Byblos cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.